Harold Uxbridge
Harold Uxbridge (born 1958) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2013 (succeeding Elizabeth Reading and preceding Ernest Oliver) and from 2023 to 2024 (succeeding Harold Becket and preceding Kathleen Urban). He began his career as the UKIP MP for Willerby from 2004; he was elected amidst a surge in support for UKIP due to working-class anger at Prime Minister Kathleen Urban's abolition of public housing. His premiership was marked with fluctuating economic and political fortunes and several battles with Parliament over spending and programs. In 2013, he resigned after his party tied for second place in the general election, and William Herder became the new party leader. He returned as party leader in 2019 after Herder retired. Uxbridge had previously distinguished himself as a party loyalist, but, in 2020, he changed the party's course by authoring the law which successfully restored the British monarchy, and he became a prominent conservative voice who supported a return to parliamentary democracy and a move away from direct elections. Uxbridge was a better opposition leader than a Prime Minister, authoring constitutional amendments which raised the voting age to 21, reduced the constitutional majority threshold to 50%, turned the prime ministerial elections into two-candidate races, and decisively supported an immigration ban. Just as Reading was a realigning leader of UKIP who led the party to the left, Uxbridge was a realigning reactionary leader who helped to restore the British parliamentary system. Biography Harold Uxbridge was born in Willerby, East Yorkshire, England in 1958 to a working-class family of Labour Party supporters. Uxbridge rose from poverty to become a successful attorney, and he often fought for the rights of working-class council estates residents. In 2004, he was recruited as a parliamentary candidate by UKIP in response to Prime Minister Kathleen Urban's abolition of public housing, as he was a vocal supporter of the council estates. Uxbridge was elected the MP for Willerby in 2004, and he was seen as a rising star in the party. From 2008 to 2009, UKIP launched a series of publicity campaigns aimed at grooming Uxbridge to succeed the aging Prime Minister Elizabeth Reading, who was in power from 2005 to 2010. During the 2010 general election campaign, Reading announced that she would step down at the next prime ministerial election, and Uxbridge was named party leader. In week 17 of 2010, UKIP won 30.67% of the vote and 9 seats, and it remained the largest party in Parliament. Uxbridge was chosen as Prime Minister with 18 votes to Lib Dem leader Ernest Oliver's 11, and he enjoyed support from the Conservative Party, his own party, the entirety of the Scottish National Party, and two Labour MPs. Premiership The 52-year-old Uxbridge was a breath of fresh air for UKIP, and many in the party hoped that Uxbridge's leadership would revitalize UKIP's nationwide voter count, which had ebbed and flowed at around 30% for the past several elections. Uxbridge inherited a slightly declining economy, so he was forced to turn down an agricultural subsidy law. Elizabeth Reading introduced highway tolls to the Parliament, which voted to reimplement them. Uxbridge managed to keep the school bus tax, and Parliament also legalized prostitution in a vote of 16-10. The government also protected retirement homes and the government supported continuing nuclear testing, but the government failed to pass a car tax by a margin of 17-8. Reading finally succeeded in passing a stamp duty tax, which Uxbridge wrote into law. Uxbridge kept universal healthcare by a margin of 21-5, declined a driving license program with a vote of 13-13, narrowly failed to oppose the creation of a postal service by a margin of 15-11, and approved a custom duty by an 18-6 vote. Uxbridge then addressed the nation a week before 31 December 2010, when the next general elections were held. The ensuing election saw UKIP lose several votes, but it remained in power with 9 seats, while the Lib Dems, Labour, and the Conservatives each held 6 seats and the SNP held 3 seats. In the second week of January 2011, Uxbridge received a second mandate by a margin of 17-12, defeating Labour leader Harold Becket. In his second term, Uxbridge continued to protect public housing from the Lib Dems' efforts to abolish it. He also approved continuing to hold the Olympic Games in England, but Parliament rebelled against him by abolishing highway tolls in a 14-10 vote. When Parliament voted 14-11 to abolish the housing tax, the country experienced economic downturn. The Parliament continued road maintenance programs, and it succeeded in passing an airport tax by a margin of 14-10. Parliament also voted 18-8 to keep the income tax, and Parliament defeated a gun control bill 10-7. Uxbridge led his party in opposing any more spending programs while defending existing programs and attempting to protect or create taxes. A new poll showed that only 24.3% of voters would support a UKIP government, while 22.5% would support the Lib Dems, 21.9% Labour, 21.8% Conservative, and 9.5% SNP. The government voted 20-5 to enact a travel visa program to help the economy recover, and Uxbridge broke with his predecessor Reading by opposing vehicle emission limits; while Reading was consistently in favor of green programs, Uxbridge was forced to cut government expenditures. At the election of mid-2011, UKIP was reduced to 8 seats with 25.83% of the vote, while Labour won 7 seats and 23.07%, the Lib Dems won 6 seats and 21.14%, the Tories won 6 seats and 21.11%, and the SNP won 3 seats and 8.86%. At the next leadership contest, however, Uxbridge was handily re-elected with 19 votes to Becket's 7. Uxbridge's third term was devoted to resurrecting his party, which had lost 6% of its support since the last election, nearly costing it control of Parliament. The government failed to support a car tax, declined an arts subsidies program, failed to cut agriculture research spending, supported the passage of the housing tax, continued compulsory military service, defended public housing, oversaw large-scale economic recovery, abstained from a vote on drivers' licenses which passed 14-2, successfully fought off a party funding law 22-7, and failed to protect the land tax, which was abolished in a 16-10 vote. UKIP abstained from the agricultural subsidy vote, which was defeated 9-7, and it shot down a prime ministerial term limit law 20-3. In mid-2012, the next general election saw UKIP win just 25.29% of the vote and 8 seats, Labour 23.50% and 7 seats, the Lib Dems 22.24% and 7 seats, the Tories 21.16% and 6 seats, and the SNP 7.81% and 2 seats. Te next leadership contest saw Uxbridge again defeat Becket, this time with 19 votes to Becket's 6, a larger margin than the time before. The Prime Minister's fourth term was devoted to continuing the country's economic growth and preparing the party for a greater electoral success at the next election. The government approved the return of national parks in a 17-8 vote, and it also declined election thresholds 22-0. An attempt by the government to reduce the majority necessary for constitutional reforms to 50% failed 8-8 with 10 abstentions, again dashing UKIP's hopes at electoral reform. UKIP then tried to expand Parliament to 35 seats, but the measure failed with 10 in favor, 9 against, and 6 abstentions, lacking the clear majority. The government's attempt to pass a car tax failed 14-6, but it approved a government scholarship 17-2. At the general election of 1 January 2019, UKIP, Labour, the Lib Dems, and the Tories were caught in a four-way tie with 7 seats each, while the SNP was reduced to 2. In a repeat of the past several leadership elections, Uxbridge beat Becket 19-10. Uxbridge briefly considered stepping down as Prime Minister due to his party's narrow victory, but he was convinced that his party's rule in Parliament was due to his own popularity, not his party's. He narrowly saved the income tax by a margin of 12-11, approved taxi licenses by a margin of 21-7, but Parliament passed prime ministerial term limits by a margin of 14-9. The government also succeeded in shooting down vehicle emission limits by a margin of 16-9, failed to pass press freedom laws (approving 13-10, but lacking the majority), supported the rights to referenda 27-0, rejected protest prohibition laws 16-6, abstained from a child benefit vote which failed 10-8, and voted against agricultural subsidies 17-7. In a new poll released on the 30th week of 2013, it was revealed that 24.9% of voters backed the Lib Dems, 24.8% Labour, 22.1% UKIP, 20.7% Tories, and 7.6% SNP. Parliament then insulted Uxbridge by voting against highway tolls 13-12 and a car tax 19-7, but the government managed to save the custom duty 12-10. On election day, Labour took the lead with 25.10% of the vote and 8 seats, while the Lib Dems won 24.73% and 7 seats, UKIP won 21.59% and 7 seats, the Tories won 20.67% and 6 seats, and the SNP won 7.91% and 2 seats. Uxbridge stepped down as UKIP leader and Prime Minister as a result of the highly disappointing election results for UKIP, with William Herder assuming the party leadership. Uxbridge endorsed Lib Dem leader Ernest Oliver over his old rival Harold Becket, and Oliver succeeded him as Prime Minister. In 2019, after Reading shockingly defected to the Lib Dems, Herder was personally distressed and decided to retire from politics. This left Uxbridge as the party leader just three weeks before the mid-2019 general election. He became Leader of the Opposition when his party won 10 seats in Parliament, giving them a 3-seat lead over the ruling Lib Dems and a 4-seat lead over UKIP's other rivals, Labour. In early 2020, he authored a law to restore the monarchy, and it surprisingly passed 23-1. Under Uxbridge, UKIP moved away from its earlier republican views and supported a return to the original system, reversing Reading and Herder's democratic reforms. However, his bill to lower the constitutional amendment threshold to 50% failed 17-10; those in favor had 7 more votes than those against, but they lacked a majority. Uxbridge was successful, however, in raising the voting age to 21, with the measure passing 25-1. He placed in second in the presidential election that year, winning 19.7% to Harold Becket's 22.5%. In early 2022, Uxbridge successfully reduced the constitutional amendment threshold to 50% in a vote of 17-4. Weeks later, Uxbridge changed the electoral law so that only two parties could run prime ministerial candidates; the law passed 12-10. In the mid-2022 elections, UKIP won a larger share of the vote in Parliament, but Uxbridge lost the two-man presidential race to Becket with 46.9% to his 53.1%. Return to Power In the mid-2023 elections, UKIP remained the largest party in Parliament, and Uxbridge released radio ads attacking Becket's government over its economic policies. Ultimately, in the presidential election, Uxbridge defeated Becket with 50.4% of the vote to his 49.6%. Uxbridge's premiership began with the 13-11 approval of the land tax, the 14-13 decision to abolish the income tax (which, spearheaded by the SNP, Lib Dems, and Tories, led to economic downturn), the 13-10 approval of mandatory vaccinations, a failed 18-7 effort to reimplement the popular highway tolls, a close 14-10 decision to stay in NATO (backed by UKIP and the Lib Dems), the 15-11 decision to keep the Tobin tax on speculation, and the 23-6 decision to keep universal healthcare. At the start of 2024, UKIP surpassed its fundraising goals, which inspired many UKIP members who now believed that UKIP was about to see another renaissance as the country's largest conservative party. Uxbridge led the Commons in voting 18-9 to abolish the bus transport service, 21-3 to abolish arts subsidies, 22-7 to abolish the death sentence, and 19-7 to abolish food control, helping the economy to recover. At the mid-2024 election, UKIP increased to 31.38% and 9 seats, Labour shrunk to 19.24% and 6 seats, the Tories rose to 21.28% and 6 seats, the Lib Dems rose to 16.66% and 5 seats, and the SNP rose to 11.43% and 4 seats. Uxbridge narrowly lost re-election to Kathleen Urban in a vote of 47%-53%. After again losing the premiership election to Urban in 2025, Uxbridge decided to step down as party leader and allow for the younger Leslie Dobkins to step up. Category:1958 births Category:British politicians Category:British Category:Politicians Category:Agnostics Category:UKIP members Category:British conservatives Category:Conservatives Category:British prime ministers Category:Prime ministers Category:EnglishCategory:Living people